Liminal blues
Fleeting Spring moments with woodland bells
A little, gentle foray into the liminality of bluebells this week along the Antlered Path. Wildflowers can often create a sense of wild edged liminality, especially in wooded spaces. Walking with the woodland flowers, I find that something ‘wakes up’ inside my spirit and in my body - a switch clicks. The energy that was rooting down through winter has shifted upwards into verdant blooming life force energy. The magical and transformative aspect of this spring awakening never fails to touch me deeply.
I am still not feeling that well, so have been taking things very, very slow. But I managed wild edged, mindful connections with three different bluebell patches this week. Each space is very different, around 7 miles apart from each other, but the bluebells felt connected, because they are ofcourse. Helped by the deep earth’s woven threads from the supportive fungi that enable the plants to absorb nutrients, in particular phosphorus. These threads are known as hyphae, from the Greek huphē (ὑφή) which means ‘web’.
There is a lot of sadness around in the ‘ether’, melancholic hues, blues. War and trauma fill the airwaves. My health issues have saddened my heart, as is to be expected. Illness is not easy for anyone really and each illness has it’s own signature, it’s own challenges. Each of us has our own way to respond to such and our own journey to undertake with our healing. Sometimes we can feel isolated when we are not able to do the things we usually do in community and so on, because we have had to step back.
It is in Natural spaces where I really notice how I am truly feeling, the whole range of my current experience I guess you could say. When we are inside we often focus on the immediate concerns and feelings because we are internalising more, we are separated from the elements and Nature a little bit.
So I was aware on my connections with the trees and bluebells and strong winds this week that I am shifting, changing and something very deep is happening within my whole being. That it is not just a range of symptoms but actually an emotional and spiritual catharsis. It reminds me of how I felt during the weeks after I gave birth to my son - over 22 years ago. I recall that the light was too bright outside, that everything felt fragile, noisy and a little bit too speeded up for me.
As the eggshell cracks, the splinters of new light can seem overwhelming and yet when the shell falls away it seems OK.
Bluebells have helped me to create some space between my challenges and my intuition this week, so that I can hear my intuitive voice a little more clearly. For when we are in discomfort it is not that easy to feel clarity or that refreshed feeling of one’s ‘intuitive pulse’. I hope these connections I share offer some kind of mindful respite for you.
I chose this video to share - you can probably guess why. It is not just the beautiful bee, but the one flower that stands out. Hope and peace can often be seen through the colour white.
Witch’s thimble - Fairy flower - Lady’s nightcap - Dead man’s bells - Wood bell
Bluebells are native to western Europe with the UK being a species stronghold. They're associated with ancient woodland and are often used in combination with other species as a clue that a wood is ancient.1
I love that bluebells indicate an ancient status in relation to woodlands. As plants they are very slow to colonise a space and also do not like disturbed ground, so this along with other factors are why they are such good indicators of an ancient woodland.
This could be one of the reasons why they are often linked with ‘constancy’ and perseverance. It can take up to 6 years for a new plant to flower from it’s seed.
Woodlands and trees in general are anchor points for me both on walks and also spiritually. I love the abundance of plant life in woodlands that springs into ‘green’ during the Spring and Summer. Such vitality and diversity is really good for our own innate green-spiritedness.
When the bluebells blossom, after weeks of their green, lush long leaves spreading out over the winter blasted woodland floor, I notice that the energy too has shifted generally - I sense Beltaine, the uprising green fire, the fertility of earth magic quickening. A visceral enchantment flows around a spread of bluebells which is so detectable, I guess this is why so many of us stand and stare as if in a trance, possibly even partly in Otherworld as we do so.
The magic of bluebells seems to arise both from their poisonous nature and their soft hazy blue glow they emanate when a large carpet of them open up and collectively augur the warmer days ahead. Many folktales indicate their close affinity with the Fae and Witches. Including the warning that if you hear a bluebell ‘ring’ out then you will suffer misfortune thereafter. Also in some tales, if you pick bluebells you could end up bald or worse! Fae were believed to hang their spells upon bluebells, so it is best to leave them be, tread carefully….
Native bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. They are threatened by habitat loss and nearly half of the world's population of native bluebells is found in the UK, making their protection crucial for international biodiversity.
They have been present on this small northern European island for thousands of years.
Folklore says that you also need to be careful with the Scottish Bluebell because its common name is rooted in magic. Some say that the name “Harebell” was given to the flower because witches would turn themselves into hares and hide among them. It may also be the reason why the names Witch's Thimbles and Witch Bells were used for the flowers.2
Despite all the dark folklore associated with these captivating flowers and plants, they are also considered to share associations with humility, constancy and lasting love.
These associations seem to have arisen from a combination of European folklore, Christian symbolism, and Victorian-era flower language or floriography. 3 The flower's bowed, drooping bloom, is the key reason for its symbolic association with humility, (akin to a bowing head in prayer or submissiveness to the divine or a ‘greater’ power). Ofcourse these associations are very anthropomorphic and speak of the human tendency to use plants or animals as social agents in a way.
A Bluebell haiku - How I approach bluebells
Wait for my invite,
slow edging of witch’s blue
Bells chime through Skylark.
I think I may have mentioned in a previous year’s post that my love of bluebells was motivated in me by my mum’s passion for them. She would go to a particular country park in Hampshire and lie down close to them (not on top of them!). She would literally and viscerally heal herself of winter blues (not the uplifting bluebell ‘blues’!). I would see her transform into a giggling and uplifted mum, her burdens and ancestral wounds dissolved momentarily - fizzing with LIFE. For many years she continued to rejoice in them. I continue this wild pilgrimage to woods near me here in Dorset, as she is not that mobile now and lives in a residential care home. I intend to share my photos with her soon.
The notion of ‘blue’ is both sadness and lifeforce. Blue is linked to the most melancholic of feelings and also to water, without which - well, we would not be here to enjoy the bluebells. Bluebells are technically a deeper purple colour, in general. Though there can be pale blue and white flowers too. But it would seem the word purple did not exist when the name was ascribed to them!
Stepping into the blue of a newly awoken bluebell altar yesterday morning with bees gently humming and skylarks flitting close by with their breathless prayers to the sun - I was almost breathless in my captivation of pure beauty.
What connections with the wild flower spirits are you having at present? Are any speaking to you?
I hope you have a week ahead where you can carve out some respite for self healing with the shifting season. In peace across the deer trods, Hilary xxx
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/bluebell/
https://www.smarshall-photography.com/blog-frames-of-mind/bluebells-linked-by-legend
‘Interest in floriography soared in Victorian England, North America and France[8] during the 19th century. Gifts of blooms, plants, and specific floral arrangements were used to send a coded message to the recipient, allowing the sender to express feelings of romance and courtship which could not be spoken aloud in Victorian society’. Wikipedia.
How beautifully written and felt. I'm always taken aback I guess you'd say by the carefulness of your observations. So detail so beautiful. I've noticed it people from your part of the world tend to do it more that way and you are extremely good at it. Here The land is so big and vast and varied that people don't see the small things has a general rule. God is in the details as they say. And people miss the details too often. I'm praying for you in your illness. And thank you so much I'm very much look forward to each new post